Ever since Ant McPartlin announced he wouldn’t be presenting this year’s series of ‘I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!’ so he can continue his recovery, speculation has been rife about who will be his stand-in.
Holly Willoughby is one of the hot favourites to co-host the ITV jungle-based show alongside Ant’s sidekick Declan Donnelly, but it looks like the ‘This Morning’ star could have some serious competition on her hands.
Ladies and gents, we give you... Julia Morris.
“Who?” we hear you cry. Well, stay with us.
Julia might be a complete unknown in the UK, but Down Under the presenter, actress and comic is a household name, thanks to presenting stints on ‘Australia’s Got Talent’, ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ and yep, the Australian version of ‘I’m A Celebrity’.
And it’s the latter where she’s really made an impression, thanks to her hilarious intros on each episode of the show, a montage off which has been doing the rounds on Twitter...
Now many UK fans have made it known on social media that they want Julia to co-host our version of ‘I’m A Celebrity’ when it returns later this year, something the Australian star is totally up for.
Speaking on ‘Good Morning Britain’ on Thursday she told hosts Kate Garraway and Ranvir Singh that she’d “take the job in a heartbeat”.
She said: “I am a huge fan of the show and lived in the UK for seven years, and when I came home to Australia and heard they were doing an Australian version, I went lock, stock and two very smoking barrels to get that job because it always looked like the boys were having so much fun. So I was lucky enough to land it.”
Asked if she’d ever met Declan Donnelly, she added: “I’m not convinced we have crossed paths. But I’m a longstanding fan so I think… I’m not gonna bring what Ant brings which is a magic that just cannot be described.”
She then joked: “But I would certainly bring something reasonably elderly and slightly overweight to be honest, so that could be something new and interesting on television.”
Julia - who started her career at the age of 17 when she entered the talent show ‘New Faces’ - has been presenting the Aussie version of ‘I’m A Celeb’ for the last three years.
This means (a) she’s more than up to the job (b) won’t have far to travel and (c) is funnier than Holly Willoughby (sorry Holly).
Come on ITV, you know it makes sense.
The new series of ‘I’m A Celebrity’ will be back on ITV in the Autumn.